Saturday, 12 May 2018

An exciting week for our Dragons

The excellent weather over the Bank Holiday weekend, really got things moving with 7 new species recorded for the first time this year.Bee Jackson reports Large Red Damselflies emerging in Norton near Daventry, while James Underwood reports Banded Demoiselles, Large Reds, Azures and Blue-tailed Damselflies at the pond in Weldon. He also created some excitement by posting photos of several Variable Damselflies from the same pond, on the Northants Dragonflies facebook group. It will be really great news if this turns out to be a colony, but also quite confusing as this is not your typical Variable site - it isn't that well vegetated, but does have a strong colony of Azures.Jeff Blincow saw our first Four-spotted Chasers and Broad-bodied Chasers in the Yardley Hastings area, while the first Banded Demoiselles were seen on the Nene at Irthlingborough by Tony Vials, who also reports Broad-bodied Chasers near the Whitestones ponds at Twywell Hills and Dales.For my part, I witnessed hundreds of Red-eyed Damselflies emerging at Ditchford Lakes, along with a few Blue-tailed Damselflies and Common Blue Damselflies.